


On the edge

by minzimpression



Series: winterhawk one-shots [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Bucky!Cap, Day 4 - Cold, M/M, No Character Death, Steve is just indisposed, Winterhawk Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:51:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minzimpression/pseuds/minzimpression
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s his first mission as Captain America and he has a horrible feeling of déjà vu.</p>
<p>[Winterhawk Week Day 4 - Cold]</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the edge

**Author's Note:**

> God, I love Bucky!Cap.

“Are you shitting me?” Bucky mumbles as he looks down at the snow-covered landscape. They are flying very low and if he would reach out through the open door of the Quinjet, he could probably feel the icy, soft snow. They are circling the mountain peaks and it’s insanely high.

It’s his first mission as Captain America and he has a horrible feeling of déjà vu. He tries to swallow down the panic and looks around the Quinjet to calm down. Falcon is sitting next to Natalia, cracking one joke after another. It’s nice to see her laugh. The Natalia he has known from Winter Soldier times would never have laughed that freely. 

Clint is in the pilot’s seat, concentrating very hard, since they are flying unbelievably low. Bucky can only see his tense back. One wrong decision of Clint and the Quinjet could crash against some hidden rock. But Clint is the best pilot Bucky has ever known so he doesn’t worry too much about that.

He’s more worrying about the cold that is creeping through the open back of the Quinjet. Bucky is supposed to be much, much closer to the far end of the jet and look for suspicious activity but he _can’t_.

It’s so _cold._. It’s freezing. 

He hates the cold. It reminds him of being frozen in time and only being woken up every few years. To kill. What if he goes out there and freezes again? What if someone finds him and decides to make him their weapon? Again?

He shakes his head. No, he can’t think about this now. He has a mission to complete. And Stark had put so much thought in Bucky’s own Captain America uniform. It _is_ warm. It’s just Bucky’s face that is cold. And that’s enough for Bucky to feel a hint of panic. 

No, not going there.

Not thinking about how they icy crystals are needling his skin, how his breath hitches, how he’s getting sleepy, not knowing when he will wake up again.

He fumbles with his new uniform. It has such a very dark shade of blue that it almost looks black. He’s glad about that. Because he doesn’t want to bear any resemblance to the _real_ Captain America. Bucky doesn’t have any red in his uniform and he sure as hell doesn’t wear a hood/helmet. He has masked his face with his good old black war camouflage paint around his eyes. That’s enough for him. The only thing that shows that he’s Captain America (aside from the shield of course) is the star on his arm. He’s changed the red star into a white one and painted a red and blue circle around it so it does look like a miniature shield on his arm.

He’d rather be the Winter Soldier right now. Replacing Steve is such a heavy burden. He doesn’t want that. Being the sniper side-kick in the background is so much easier.

But Steve is not available right now.

He’s probably having an asthma attack at the very moment. Or a coughing fit. Or maybe he’s stubbornly trying to sneak out of the tower with another jet, to help them.

There’s a reason they left Tony behind, too. Tony is the only voice of reason for Steve. _And_ he is searching for the solution to…reverse their _small_ problem.

The rest of the Avengers are searching too. That’s why they are here. In the fucking German Alps to find the Hydra scientist who is responsible for their five foot nothing leader. 

During the latest battle with Hydra, Steve had gotten hit with something out of the newest Hydra weapon and had changed back into his pre-serum body immediately. 

That had been three weeks ago.

(During those weeks, Steve had been so sure that he wouldn’t change back that he had begged Bucky to take over as Captain America.

“But only temporary,” Bucky had finally said. Because everyone but Steve was sure that all of this was only a brief situation. They would find the solution. )

And now here they are, following a trace, FRIDAY had found a few hours ago.

Bucky sighs and takes a few steps further. He grips the next best handle he can find and leans out of the Quinjet. Ice-cold wind beats him in the face. 

He isn’t in a freezing coffin. He is _not_.

“Can you slow down a bit?” he shouts over his shoulder.

“Your wish is my command,” Clint replies and decelerates the jet. “FRIDAY says we’re close.”

Natalia stands up to sit on the co-pilot seat and Sam joins Bucky at the end of the jet. 

It doesn’t take long until FRIDAY scans the outline of something very big under a thick layer of snow. At the same time, Bucky spots something tiny, maybe a flag. It was _something_ that marked well…something.

“Do you read anyone on top of the snow?” Bucky asks FRIDAY. She denies.

“Clint, bring us down behind that rock formation at your 3’o clock,” Bucky says, slowly stepping back and checking the shield before he straps it on his back.

“Aye, Cap,” Clint answers (Bucky cringes. He is _not._ ) and brings them down exactly where Bucky had wanted it. 

“Do you have any idea where the entrance is?” Bucky asks FRIDAY. 

FRIDAY shows them the outline of the assumed hideout and they decide to split up. It shouldn’t be that hard. The hideout isn’t very big. Bucky assumes that there are around 20 Hydra agents, the scientist included.

They unload the two snowmobiles and Bucky is in awe when Clint presses something on his phone and the whole Quinjet vanishes in front of his eyes. Stark tech. Impressing Bucky since 1943.

“Widow and I will find him at first,” Falcon says matter-of-factly as he sits down behind Natalia. 

“Try to catch up, boys,” she smirks, starts the engine of their snowmobile (Bucky hears _nothing_. What the hell Stark?) and drives off with Falcon. 

“You drive,” Clint says, buttoning up his long coat. “I don’t want you pressed against my bow.”

“But you want me pressed against your _body_ , admit it,” Bucky says without thinking and swings his legs over the front seat. 

“You bet your ass,” Clint chuckles and sits down behind him. Bucky places the shield in front of them (like he had seen Steve doing it so many times) and they are off. Clint is sitting very close. Probably too close for it to be strictly professional. 

(They’ve danced around each other for a few weeks now. Bucky has no idea what’s stopping them.)

“So I was thinking—“ he starts because why not talk about it now? But he gets interrupted by an immense shockwave. 

What? 

The snowmobile flies through the air (“ _Guys, it’s a trap! Get back to the Quinjet! _”). Bucky manages to grab the shield as he and Clint crash into a rock formation. There’s another explosion underground and Bucky holds the shield in front of him and Clint so they won’t get blown away again.__

__“Are you okay?” he asks the other man, adrenaline rushing through his body. Clint is groaning and presses a hand into his side._ _

__“Just peachy,” he grumbles. His hand comes away blood-covered and Bucky feels very cold all of the sudden. And that has nothing to do with the snow or the icy temperatures. Clint is hurt. Bucky hates it when Clint gets hurt on a mission. And this mission is under his command and –_ _

__The ground under them shakes again and Bucky’s stomach lurches when he can feel the rock formation, on which they are sitting on, is breaking apart. He grabs the next best solid thing, practically rams his metal hand into the wall of rock and holds out his other hand for Clint._ _

__Clint reaches for him but it’s too late. Bucky sees it coming before it actually happens. Clint’s hand slips through his and oh god, it’s just like 70 years ago, only worse. Clint looks at him with wide eyes in the exact same moment when the loose rocks fall down over the mountain’s edge where they are hanging on. And Clint goes with them, plummeting down. He screams and all Bucky can see is himself in another lifetime. He can see himself how he is screaming and falling from the train._ _

__Bucky doesn’t think. He does the same thing like three years ago when Helicarriers were falling from the sky._ _

__He pushes away from the rock wall and jumps after Clint. (He made the decision in a fraction of a second.)_ _

__He has no idea how he does it, but he reaches Clint, wraps his arms around him._ _

__“It’s okay, I’ve got you!” he shouts and turns them so he is falling back-first. The shield is strapped on his back. Bucky survived a fall like this once, he can survive it twice. His body and the shield should absorb enough for Clint to live._ _

__Clint shouts something at him. Bucky can’t understand through the rush of the wind but he’s pretty sure it’s something along the lines of ‘you fucking idiot’._ _

__“ _Come on, guys. A bit too intimate, huh? Hugging like that. You think it’s the time when you’re free falling right into your death?_ ” The comm flares to life and Falcon is there, flying to them._ _

__He grips Bucky’s metal arm, cries out because they are very heavy, but they slow down and Falcon manages to bring them up again (Tony’s fiddling with Falcon’s suit did wonders to the load capacity) and steers in the Quinjet that is waiting in the air with FRIDAY as the pilot._ _

__Natalia greets them with a scowl and a bag of ‘Dr. Cho’s wonder treatments’ as Tony likes to call it._ _

__“What the fuck, boys?” she asks and helps Clint to the small med station. FRIDAY sets the coordinates for Stark Tower and Bucky follows them._ _

__“Are you okay?” he asks, taking Clint’s hand in his and sits down while Natalia treats Clint’s wound._ _

__“Noooo,” Clint whines. “Because that was the worst date ever.”_ _

__Bucky chuckles._ _

__“That was a date?” he asks._ _

__“Dude, you jump after me when I fall to my icy death, it’s on.”_ _

__“Fine by me,” Bucky smiles._ _

__Natalie rolls her eyes. “Just kiss already and don’t get on my nerves.”_ _

__And they do just that._ _

__Clint’s lips are cold._ _

__Bucky works on getting them warm._ _

**Author's Note:**

>  my [tumblr](http://minzimpression.tumblr.com)


End file.
